Wall construction spotted near McAllen

Construction of a border wall in a section of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge, a federal habitat, was spotted this morning, according to a Facebook video post.

“I can’t get anywhere near it because all of the Border Patrol is there, but I can see the machinery moving, they are starting to tear down the forest in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge,” Krista Schlyer, a birder and photographer in the area, said in a Facebook video.

She swung her camera to behind her on the levee, where Border Patrol vehicles were visible.

Schlyer was in the La Parida section of the refuge, near the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Equipment for the wall was placed there last week.

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Her video was shared by the National Butterfly Center’s Facebook page. The butterfly center was notified by federal officials last year that the wall will cut through its land, placing 70 of its 100 acres south of the wall.

The levee that winds its way miles above the Rio Grande, the U.S.-Mexico international boundary, is being used for the placement of the concrete-and-steel wall, which could range from 18 to 30 feet high.

Customs and Border Protection has said it would break ground for the wall mid-February.

Congress approved 33 miles of new wall construction last year, and CBP awarded $312 million to SLCO, Ltd. in two separate contracts for 14 miles of wall in Hidalgo County.